Earlier quoted context omitted.
It means the ordering remains monotonic. It means if you’re on top of the world, you remain so with all the psychological trappings, just on a slightly lower mound. The scraps that come from slightly lowering your absolute position (but keeping relative position the same) will go to addressing externalities and common goods.
> It means the ordering remains monotonic Are you willing to work as hard for $1 as for $1000, even if your relative status remains unchanged? > The scraps that come from slightly lowering your absolute position (but keeping relative position the same) will go to addressing externalities and common goods. Yes, but the entire point of this paper is that those 'scraps' are actually worth less than the economic gains pr…
> the entire point of this paper is that those 'scraps' are actually worth less than the economic gains produced by the ideas that receive these high top incomes.
I'm not convinced by this. Every successful person who has created immense value for the world stood on the shoulders of not only giants but thousands of little people contributing to society. Those top income receiving ideas mean nothing in a society with no law, infrastructure, education, or opportunities. You think taxes stifle innovation? What would Bezos have accomplished had he been born to an uneducated militant in current day Syria?